1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording/reproducing device which includes a mechanism for maintaining the position of a board-like element attached to a chassis of the magnetic recording/reproducing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, among magnetic recording/reproducing apparatuses, videotape camera-recorders are becoming more compact.
Similarly, operational elements mounted on a mechanism section of such a videotape camera-recorder are becoming more compact and thinner. Conductors for connecting electrical elements to the mechanism section are also becoming thinner, and the use of flexible printed circuits (hereinafter, referred to as the “FPC”) as such a conductor is increasing.
Referring to FIGS. 6, 7A and 7B, a conventional magnetic recording/reproducing device will be described below.
FIG. 6 is a top view showing a structure of means for maintaining the position of an FPC, which is a board-like element, of a conventional magnetic recording/reproducing device.
FIG. 7A is a side view showing a structure of means for maintaining the position of the FPC. FIG. 7B is a side view showing a structure of another means for maintaining the position of the FPC.
In FIG. 6, reference numeral 1 denotes a chassis included in a mechanism section of the conventional recording/reproducing device, reference numeral 1a denotes a chassis guide hole provided in the chassis 1, reference numeral 2 denotes an FPC and is attached to the chassis 1, reference numeral 2a denotes an FPC guide hole provided in the FPC 2 so as to have an axis common to that of the chassis guide hole 1a when the FPC 2 is placed in a prescribed horizontal position with respect to the horizontal plane of the chassis 1, reference numeral 2b denotes a soldering land on which a terminal of an electrical element (not shown) attached to the chassis 1 is soldered, reference numeral 2c denotes an insertion member included in the FPC 2 for insertion into electric circuitry, and reference numeral 3 denotes a fixing screw for screwing the FPC 2 to the chassis 1.
In FIGS. 7A and 7B, components having the same functions as those denoted in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 7B, reference numeral 4 denotes an adhesive (i.e., adhesive tape).
Construction of the above-described conventional magnetic recording/reproducing device will now be described with reference to FIGS. 6, 7A and 7B.
First, as shown in FIG. 6, the FPC guide hole 2a provided in the FPC 2 and the chassis guide hole 1a provided in the chassis 1 are aligned with each other using a pin (not shown) so as to place the FPC 2 in the prescribed horizontal position.
Next, the soldering land 2b provided to the FPC 2 is aligned with a terminal of an electrical element (not shown), thereby completing the placement of the FPC 2 with respect to the horizontal plane of the chassis 1.
Means for maintaining the vertical position of the FPC 2 with respect to the horizontal plane of the chassis 1 are described below. There are two types of such means as follows.
Referring to FIG. 7A, first maintaining means are described below.
After the placement of the FPC 2 with respect to the horizontal plane of the chassis 1, the FPC 2 is screwed to the chassis 1 using the fixing screw 3, so that the vertical position of the FPC 2 is maintained. Then, the terminal of the electrical element is soldered on the soldering land 2b, thereby completing the placement of the FPC 2 onto the chassis 1. In this case, the fixing screw 3 provides a maintaining effect which prevents the FPC 2 from being separated or lifted from the chassis 1 by force applied to the insertion section 2c, for example, when the insertion section 2c is inserted into the electric circuitry.
Referring to FIG. 7B, second maintaining means are described below.
After the placement of the FPC 2 with respect to the horizontal plane of the chassis 1, the FPC 2 is fixed to the chassis 1 using the adhesive 4, so that the vertical position of the FPC 2 is maintained. Then, the terminal of the electrical element is soldered on the soldering land 2b, thereby completing the placement of the FPC 2 onto the chassis 1. In this case, the adhesive 4 provides a maintaining effect which prevents the FPC 2 from being separated or lifted from the chassis 1 by force applied to the insertion section 2c. 
However, the above-described conventional structures have the following problems.
In the case where the first maintaining means are used, a fixing screw is required for maintaining the position of a board-like element such as FPC 2, thereby increasing not only the number of assembly parts, but also the number of the assembly steps including the fastening of the screw and providing a screw hole in the chassis. The thickness of the assembled structure is also increased due to the added thickness of the fixing screw.
In the case where the second maintaining means are used, an adhesive (tape) is required to be preattached on the FPC, thereby increasing the cost of the FPC. Further, the FPC has a board-like shape, and thus a greater number of the steps are required to accurately attach and position the FPC to the chassis in comparison to a case where the FPC is merely mounted on the chassis.
Furthermore, in order to maintain adhesiveness of the FPC with respect to the chassis, a degreasing process is required to be performed on both the FPC and the chassis for the purpose of preventing the FPC from being separated from the chassis, thereby increasing the production cost and the number of production steps. Further still, detergent is used in the degreasing process, and such detergent aggravates global environment problems.
The present invention provides solutions to the above-described problems with conventional magnetic recording/reproducing devices.